Proposed Hanover park receives $50,000 donation

Judith Reeve and Kelly Dent of the Sustainable Hanover Committee have donated their services in designing the landscape for a new to park to showcase sustainable landscaping techniques. (Courtesy photo)

HANOVER — A town park that will showcase sustainable landscaping techniques is being planned for behind the Hanover Town Hall.

The School Street Park will be located on an empty town-owned lot between School Street and the municipal parking lot behind Hanover Town Hall.

The Sustainable Hanover Committee spearheaded the project as a way to inspire and educate the public on how to create sustainable landscapes, said committee member Larry Litten.

Fundraising for the project is underway, Litten said, but a recent a donation from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation of $50,000 has taken a big chunk out of the expected $88,400 overall cost of the project.

A landscape architect and a landscape designer sitting on the committee have donated their talents to the project, saving on costs. The city-owned land has been a vacant lot for many years, but once had a house on it used by the town as a community center Litten said.

“We hope construction will start next spring,” he said.

One of the bigger features to be highlighted in the park will be a rain garden that will capture stormwater runoff.

“We hope to actually drain the stormwater out of a large section of a parking lot, preventing it from going straight back into the Connecticut River,” Litten said.

The park will also feature the use of native plants, ways to reduce lawn space, a pollinator habitat and edible landscaping.

The park also will include play areas for children and a sitting area.

“We also think that we just need to promote the concept of people slowing down and enjoying nature,” Litten said.

A website will also be created as an accompanying resource for the public, he said.